Wildheart wrote : Nyawutsi hide is my favorite hide, we have seen a huge nile monitor there on several occasions and spend over a half an hour with an old elephant bull who had a bath. The atmosphere is out of this world and gives you the true sense of Kruger. The next stop is the Grootvlei dam with breathtaking scenery.

In the 4 hours there only one car arrived , what peace I had .Please to those thinking of Shingwedzi area , it has its disadvantages , it is so far from civilisation , it takes at least 2 hours longer to get there than all other camps , you will hardly see any open safari vehicles or traffic jams , there is relatively little chance of seeing the big 5 , the mopaniveld is so boring that even wildebeest and zebra are thinly distributed ...

KNP is sacred.I am opposed to the modernisation of Kruger and from the depths of my soul long for the Kruger of yesteryear! 1000+km on foot in KNP incl 56 wild trails.200+ nights in the wildernessndloti-indigenous name for serval.

We saw (in one week) leopard twice and lions three times in the dry river bed - just outside the camp gate. You will have difficulty to find rhino but elephants are everywhere and they are a bit crazy as well. They just LOVE chasing cars.

Book the morning walk, it is awesome! Our guide took us over the dry Shingwedzi River and we identified a lot of spores in the sand while having snacks. He took us to a mud bath that was created by elephants. It was quite a distance away from the river and it was amazing to see that they could actually find water in the middle of nowhere.

PS: There are no Mopani problems around Shingwedzi.

But, Shingwedzi is definitely not in every bodies taste, you have to love birds and the smaller things of Kruger otherwise you will be disappointed.

Forestgump , I feel overwhelmingly at peace being alone there ... ... with 35 elephants under the trees , look carefully ...... my lair is invisible to most who arrive and see a car , but no people ...

KNP is sacred.I am opposed to the modernisation of Kruger and from the depths of my soul long for the Kruger of yesteryear! 1000+km on foot in KNP incl 56 wild trails.200+ nights in the wildernessndloti-indigenous name for serval.

Shingwedzi is one of my favourite camps in Kruger. I love the roads near the camp (great gameviewing!) and the camp's quiet atmosphere. Tshanga is my favourite viewpoint in Kruger - I always go there when I stay at Shingwedzi. When I was there 3 weeks ago, there was a hyaena den near the camp, and I had several sightings of Verreaux' Eagle Owls. (I have seen them there often since my first visit in 2001.)

KNP is sacred.I am opposed to the modernisation of Kruger and from the depths of my soul long for the Kruger of yesteryear! 1000+km on foot in KNP incl 56 wild trails.200+ nights in the wildernessndloti-indigenous name for serval.

I imagine the Kanniedood road area would be ideal habitat for Pels .They will probably only be seen on nightdrives as there is too much vehicular traffic in daytime .The trees on the northern bank overshadow the water a bit further eastwards from this point , there are probably also other possible locations more to the west when there are large water pools after rain .

KNP is sacred.I am opposed to the modernisation of Kruger and from the depths of my soul long for the Kruger of yesteryear! 1000+km on foot in KNP incl 56 wild trails.200+ nights in the wildernessndloti-indigenous name for serval.

Shingwedzi is the Tsonga name for the place "where the sound of metal objects rubbing against each other" rings.

It is place where I have very fond memories of dating back to October 1970, when we met Ben and Quarta Pretorius.

It is place of many Elephants and beautifull birds, a place where the roaring of Lions keeps one awake at night. It is near to where we found 27 Roan Antelope, where the Nyala daintily graze along the river and look upon one with peace in their shiny eyes, where the Impala fawns will be frollicking very soon.

It is the place where the Crocodiles will await their catch at the low water bridge, where you may find two Saddle Bill Storks wallowing in the pools and maybe some White Storks as well.

You will hear the call of AFRICA from the Fish Eagles, you will hear the call of the Kingfishers.

Early morning you will be awakened by the Francolin and the Guinea Fowls, you will breath in the fresh air of AFRICA and you will savour the taste of your early cup of coffee.

Maybe the Leopard will still watch from where perched in the cool of the huge branch of the Sycamore on the opposite side of the river, and possibly wonder what all those inquisitive humans are staring at.

The Buffalo will come and slake their thirst in the cool waters . . ..

Shingwedzi has the shop where the three girls used to sniffle around and then ask Mrs Milne to please keep the item as they are just quickly going to beg for an increased allowance.

Shingwedzi has the restaurant where our in the Jordaan family used to enjoy a buffalo burger and a milk shake in the cool of the fresh smelling thatch. Shingwedzi is the place where ou Jan and myself used to recall our younger days while sipping an ice cold beer mug, filled with a double Bells and soda and cold precious ice, while watching the flames turn to a purple glow.

Shingwedzi is the place where one can be occupied for hours just watching the Yellow Billed Hornbills and the restless Squirrels who may later out of sheer exhaustion just plonk down and stretch out on the cool of the verandah.

Shingwedzi is the place where we for so many years celebrated Christmas, all of us Oupa Dirk (Dear Old Dad), Ouma Sue, Lanette myself and the three girls and later some hangers on of the male sex who became sons in law. Hopefully Elsabe, Alistair, Nicholas and little Danika will also in the future open their Christmas gifts there after Oupa Gerhard had read from Luke 2 from the Great Book, as he had done so many times before.

Shingwedzi is the place where I also imagine hearing the sound of metal object rubbing together.

Shingwedzi is just a wonderful place to be; maybe hot in summer but so rewarding. Oh yes I almost forgot, maybe - just maybe you will also see the White Rhino we found in September 2010 about 2.5 km to the east of the place I mentioned above, along the cool river.

Just go and enjoy this wonderful place and when you also hear the sound of the metal objects, place it in your memory file and when at home and have some leasure time - open the file and it is guaranteed you will start planning your next visit.

I participate because I care - CUSTOS NATURAENo to Hotels in and commercialization of our National Parks.No to Legalized Rhino and Lion trade.Done 159 visits to National Parks.What a wonderful privilege.

gmlsmit wrote:Shingwedzi is just a wonderful place to be; maybe hot in summer but so rewarding. Oh yes I almost forgot, maybe - just maybe you will also see the White Rhino we found in September 2010 about 2.5 km to the east of the place I mentioned above, along the cool river.

GML Smit - you may recall that near to the above place the lions roared one night - was it the same night the rhino appeared - and the day you left my friend who arrived to join me for the last night saw them from Kanniedood dam road - they were on the opposite river bank and very close to the "fever tree forest" ....

KNP is sacred.I am opposed to the modernisation of Kruger and from the depths of my soul long for the Kruger of yesteryear! 1000+km on foot in KNP incl 56 wild trails.200+ nights in the wildernessndloti-indigenous name for serval.

I have got some of my best birding pictures inside Shingwedzi - go to the bushy area just south of the filling station on the road to the swimming pool. There is a bench there in the bush. Sit on it and wait. I got numerous species within a few minutes of sitting still, including some really close up shots where the birds came to me rather than the other way round. Also very good are the thickets one finds on the caravan camp. I have got lots of birds there including my best ever shot of a Puffback. Look out for the woodpeckers (I find them by listening and then following the noise). I take about two hours to do a slow walk of the camp and get marvelous pictures of birds (and squirrels, mice, etc). They are very habituated to movement of people and as long as one moves slowly the birds just go on doing birdy things.

While we were in Tsendze in July we took a drive to Shingwedzi one day, we were pleasantly surprised by the day-visitors picnic area. Everything was spotless, the attendants were friendly,helpful and on the ball. We hired a skottel and made a "lekker" breakfast in a really tranquil part of such a busy camp.